


hold me close when it's over

by stonestars



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: F/F, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-07 14:48:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14673368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stonestars/pseuds/stonestars
Summary: When the last remnants of their fight clear up and they find themselves in the middle of the Goldcliff city center, there’s only one thing Sloane can think to do to save Hurley from the silverpoint poison that is creeping through her veins.As the energy of the spell envelopes them, Sloane leans down and kisses Hurley one last time.





	hold me close when it's over

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bibliomaniac](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bibliomaniac/gifts).



> This fic is set after Sloane and Hurley become a tree but before they emerge from it as Dryads!! It's my birthday fic for the lovely lovely Brin, who is seriously just such an excellent person!! I hope you enjoy <3

When the last remnants of their fight clear up and they find themselves in the middle of the Goldcliff city center, there’s only one thing Sloane can think to do to save Hurley from the silverpoint poison that is creeping through her veins.

As the energy of the spell envelopes them, Sloane leans down and kisses Hurley one last time.

They’re surrounded completely by light, now, but Sloane can see Hurley clearly as she smiles, her skin still laced with the blackness of the poison. Her eyes are full of the  _ I love you  _ she lacks the strength to speak. Sloane watches as Hurley’s eyes slip closed, the corners of her lips still turned up in a peaceful smile.

As the light around them changes, shifting to form hard bark and growing leaves and fragmenting into thousands of petals, Sloane pulls Hurley close to her chest.

The Gaia Sash has its own power, of course, but it also draws on her power, her energy, and that energy is almost depleted by the spell that she casts to save Hurley. And, as the light begins to fade around them, Sloane feels herself slip away into unconsciousness.

 

-

 

It’s Sloane who regains consciousness first, and the first thing she notices is how  _ dark _ it is. It’s dark, she thinks vaguely, but it’s not scary. 

There’s a warmth to the darkness; it’s not empty. She can feel a  _ life _ there, somewhere, but she can’t reach it.

She’s reaching for it when she fades out of consciousness again.

 

-

 

The next time she becomes conscious she’s able to hold on for a little longer. Her thoughts are a little clearer, too. This is a different form of fuzziness from the one she felt while under the control of the sash. It’s not trying to eat away at her, not forcing her in any one direction.

Instead, it is simply  _ there _ , at the edges of her conscious-- this fuzzy darkness that is surrounding her and Hurley. 

She thinks of Hurley and suddenly she’s hyper-aware of the fact that she can no longer feel Hurley in her arms.

It’s this that makes her call out, reaching through the darkness with everything she has. There’s no words to her call, no form to the hand that should be stretching out in front of her. Instead there is fear and pain and love and the image of Hurley’s smile when she cracks a joke.

There’s a whisper of hope there, too.

 

-

 

Hurley is drifting. 

She has no concept of where she is, of  _ what  _ she is, she has barely any concept of herself. She remembers pain, a pain that creeped through her veins like her blood was made of knives and she remembers fighting to stay conscious long enough to kiss Sloane one last time.

She does not feel pain, anymore, but she doesn’t feel Sloane either.

Instead, all she feels is the light surrounding her and a whisper of hope from somewhere far, far away that is practically dust by the time it reaches her.

 

-

 

It’s impossible to tell how much time passes. 

All Sloane knows is that after she wakes up three more times before she is able to feel anything but darkness again. 

She has no concept of how long she’s been awake, of anything but herself and the darkness and the constant fear that Hurley is really gone, that she’s not there somewhere beyond the darkness, that her spell had failed, but then--

Then she feels a breeze.

She’d been hoping as long as she’d been conscious that she would be able to feel  _ something, _ but she’d expected the bark of the tree or Hurley’s body or pain of some sort. And it’s fleeting and barely there, just a whisper of one, but she  _ feels _ it. She feels a  _ breeze. _

 

-

 

Hurley is drifting, still, surrounded by the same light.

She isn’t scared, really. Some part of her knows that Sloane is out there somewhere, beyond this light. She just has to wait for a sign as to  _ where _ .

She finds it in a passing breeze.

It’s almost startling to her, really. It’s only there for an instant but she feels it, pushing her somewhere beyond the light that surrounds her.

Hurley reaches out after the breeze, the light around her coalescing until she’s no longer vague and fuzzy and she can  _ see _ her hand, made out of the same light that had been surrounding her. It’s there,  in front of her, reaching out through a suddenly present darkness. 

_ She has to be there _ , Hurley thinks, stretching just a little farther.

 

-

 

Sloane does not know how long she has been seeing darkness, and she also cannot pinpoint the moment in which she finally sees the light.

But in an instant she  _ does _ . It doesn’t fade in, there’s no flash of light and it doesn’t blind her. One moment it’s just simply  _ there,  _ a glowing hand reaching through the darkness towards her.

She doesn’t hesitate, because just as she knows that the light is there she knows that it is Hurley, and she is reaching out with everything she has as well, calling out with every inch of her being.

 

-

 

Her fingers graze against Hurley’s and then their hands lock together, and then Hurley is  _ there _ , her arms wrapped tightly around Sloane’s body which has a  _ form _ , now.

The intensity of the light has diffused between them, both of them glowing with a soft white light in the darkness that is stretching out around them. They’re both kneeling, their arms wrapped around each other in a tight hug. Sloane cannot help the way her bottom lip quivers as she pulls back from Hurley and looks her in the eyes.

“I never thought I’d see you again,” she says hoarsely. 

Hurley’s face softens into a gentle smile. “You didn’t think you’d be rid of me  _ that _ easy,” she says, her tone light and playful.

And Sloane bites her lip, her voice shaking as she looks down at her hands, still holding tightly to Hurley’s. “I’m-- I’m so  _ sorry _ , Hurley,” she says. “I was such a fool, and--”

Hurley shakes her head. “It’s okay,” she says, “you weren’t yourself.”

“I thought…” Sloane sighs. “I  _ didn’t _ think, really. I was just… I was so  _ hungry _ , hungry for something-- anything-- more powerful than the belt, something that could  _ beat _ that fucking belt and I-- I was never really in control of myself.”

She wraps her arms around her stomach, shivering a little. “It was all-- it was like I was in a  _ dream _ ,” she says, not daring to look Hurley in the eyes. “Everything was so fuzzy, but at the same time it wasn’t and I was just-- I was in control of myself, but I wasn’t, not really. My thoughts were never quite my own and I couldn’t trust anything I saw and… it  _ was _ a dream, but I wasn’t sleeping, and it was  _ real _ .”

Hurley lightly rests a hand on Sloane’s shoulder. She knows there’s nothing she can say to help Sloane, nothing she can do to take away the guilt that Sloane is feeling. 

Sloane looks back up at Hurley. “Except… I would have these moments of clarity, when I saw you. At the bank when you-- you stopped me? And then when you burst in through the vines I-- it  _ wasn’t _ fuzzy, anymore, and I  _ knew _ how bad the sash was and I-- I wanted to stop, and--”

“You never meant to hurt anybody,” Hurley finishes, squeezing Sloane’s shoulder. “I know,” she says. “You told me you were afraid, that you couldn’t control it. That’s why we-- Taako and Merle and Magnus and I-- we went up against you in the races. Because that was the only thing I knew we had a chance in.” She smiles. “It worked,” she says. “That’s all that matters. You’re free.”

Sloane pulls Hurley into a hug so that she can’t see the way Sloane is shaking, still, at the thought of the sash.  _ You idiot, _ she thinks, holding onto Hurley as tightly as she can.  _ You didn’t save me by winning, you saved me with how much you love me.  _

 

-

  
  



End file.
